Book masters

TRACY - When visitors walk into West Walker's fifth grade classroom at Central Elementary in the heart of Tracy, they are immediately struck by one thing: books.

Joe Goldeen

TRACY - When visitors walk into West Walker's fifth grade classroom at Central Elementary in the heart of Tracy, they are immediately struck by one thing: books.

Books everywhere - some 5,000 of them. Books tightly packed on shelves lining every wall. Books stacked on student desks. There are even some you don't see, squirreled away by what Walker calls "hoarders" - voracious readers who eagerly finish one book so they can quickly move on to the next.

Ten-year-old Ramon Ruvalcava, the top reader by number of books, is a hoarder.

"He came in as a first-grade reader and now is reading at a fifth-grade level," said Walker, adding that Ramon has read and been tested on his comprehension of 163 books so far this school year.

Said Ramon: "I like this class a lot because I want my reading level to go up. I want to be a sixth grade reader - for my future."

Most of Walker's students are English language learners from disadvantaged backgrounds as defined by Title 1. Through his efforts at providing an opportunity for reading - in most cases successfully instilling a passion for it - Walker has seen his students make incredible progress.

So much progress, in fact, that last year his fifth grade was recognized as the first in the Valley to obtain "Model Classroom" certification on the Accelerated Reader National Honor Roll. Accelerated Reader is used in every school in the Tracy Unified School District as well as many other schools and districts throughout San Joaquin County and the nation.

This year, at the end of February, Walker was informed that not only had this year's fifth graders achieved Model Classroom status again, but they were the first in the county and the surrounding region to earn "Master Classroom" status, the highest level possible from Accelerated Reader.

The students' reading volume and comprehension of each book was compiled through the online Renaissance Learning servers over a defined 18-week period, showing that Walker's 24 students have each read an average of 67 books with an average tested comprehension of 88 percent. Students take an online five-minute comprehension test on one of 10 computers in Walker's room for each book they've read before moving on to the next book.

All the books in Walker's room - mostly paid for out of his own pocket at 50 cents apiece from eBay, a $1,000 grant he received and $100 provided by the school to each classroom - are labeled and color-coded by grade level. That serves as an incentive for the students to read more challenging titles.

All of his books are also part of the Accelerated Reader list that includes 180,000 titles. That list is available online at ARBookFind.com.

"Reading is a priority at Central School. We want all students on grade level or above and to become lifelong readers. Mr. Walker is very dedicated to instilling a love of reading in his students and he is very proud of his students' accomplishments," Principal Nancy Link said.

Thirty-five minutes a day is designated for reading in Walker's class, and student progress is charted on a football-field type graph for all to see. He uses it as a motivator. His particular students started the year reading more than 11/2 years below grade level, but now most have caught up or exceeded grade expectations.

Ruben Covarrubias, 10, likes reading nonfiction, especially history.

"The past is pretty interesting. It's like you are reliving it but in the future time. It's just really interesting learning about famous people and what they did to put themselves into history. I learned about Thomas Jefferson and more about Meriwether Lewis and William Clark," Ruben said.

Classmate Josue Gomez, 11, said he liked reading "Magic Treehouse" books "because they have a lot of history. You learn more from other people that were born before you. I read a book about President Obama. I liked it because I learned he always liked to read and he always wanted to learn more."

Unbeknown to the students, but important to their parents and educators, Walker said, "This type of close reading practice and monitoring of text complexity is exactly what the new Common Core Standards require for the college and career readiness of each student."

When it comes to his students, he explained that sharing the data with them has a big impact on their motivation. "That's what drives their reading. They are chasing their own personal data because they all feel personally they can improve their reading level. They generally have a quest for knowledge, and having nonfiction books easily accessible for them is really important."

Walker held up a 140-page book - "The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins: A World War II Soldier" - to illustrate his point, then laid it back down on a student's desk.

Walker came to the classroom a little later in life, having owned his own business in previous years. He was dismayed that so many young people he came in contact with had no goals, so he thought he could offer something to change that. He began teaching 14 years ago and joined Tracy Unified in 2006.

"I am trying to prepare them for the future. Reading really does change their lives - all of a sudden they have confidence. They are so excited to share what they've learned or when they test 100 percent (on comprehension)," Walker said.

"The world of books has opened up so much information for them."

Walker has given presentations to educators on his successful approach to encouraging reading and invites inquiries at wwalker@tusd.net.

Contact reporter Joe Goldeen at (209) 546-8278 or jgoldeen@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/goldeenblog and on Twitter @JoeGoldeen.